1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wireless telecommunication systems. More particularly, the invention concerns the management of resources used to provide voice communication service to wireless terminals in a wireless telecommunication system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In wireless telecommunication systems, a new class of wireless terminal has emerged that is capable of both voice and data communication. These devices typically include an integrated wireless telephone and a software-controlled data terminal that implements a micro-browser for “web surfing” and other data communication activities. In a public data network, such as the Internet, it is not uncommon for commercial entities to include advertising content, mass notifications, and public service messages in web page documents sent to client browsers. This includes documents sent to micro-browser equipped wireless terminals. Indeed, with their integrated telephony equipment, wireless terminals are often the target of messages that invite users to initiate a voice call in order to purchase a product or service, or to obtain information. When such content is sent out as multicast messages, as is often the case, the flood of responses from multiple listening wireless terminals can easily overburden the serving telephone voice network.
It would be advantageous to provide effective measures for managing voice network resources in response to data application content being multicast to a plurality of integrated voice/data wireless terminals. For example, if the voice network was aware of the multicast event, it could presumably take responsive action to handle the anticipated call volume. What is required, therefore, is a system and method that provides such cooperation between voice and data network resources.